Last week, I started to wear trainers on both feet. I was hoping that it would be time to say goodbye to the special boot, sock and crutch!I didn’t expect that it would take so long to recover from the osteotomy or that even though I am back at work and the swelling has gone down that ‘normal’ after the surgery would be so different to ‘normal’ after.

The first and biggest difference is just how much of a change it’s been. Recovery doesn’t look anything like I thought it would. I need to remind myself that it’s only been 10 weeks, the surprise shouldn’t be that I’m not as mobile as I was before the operation but that I’m as recovered as I am!Other changes are all around how slow I am. I can walk in shoes, unassisted but I’m much slower than I used to. I feel sure that I’ll build up to it again but for now, I have to plan that walking anywhere will take more time that it used to, I find myself being earlier than expected and have been joking that I’m turning into my Grandad who was always early for everything! It’s really strange to be so slow though, I’m was pretty fast walker, so it’s weird to be asking people to slow down…

The next big change has been my attitude to stairs. I’ll be the first to admit that I am not keen on stairs at the best of times, but nowadays, I’m a bit scared of them because they hurt, mostly going downstairs, going up is much easier than down, I’m now the person who will walk up the stairs (very slowly) and take the lift down, I don’t know who I am anymore! It’s also worth pointing out that the pain is not from my foot but from my right knee which has been doing most of the work over the last 10 weeks and is suffering somewhat. It had a massive flare up before Christmas and is better but I do think I have a steroid injection in my knee in the next year because it’s still swollen and sore!I have really soft feet nowadays! Once the scab came off, I started to oil and moisturise it and it seemed wrong to neglect the right foot, so both feet are much less scaly than they used to be. Overall the scar looks good and seems to be healing well but the sole of my foot just under the toes still feels tender and puffy, I’m guessing that is the tendon repairing itself. The other marvellous thing is the contraption I have to wear on my foot at night.I really, really don’t like having things on my feet if I can help it and it drives me nuts, I think the idea is that it’ll help my foot heal properly and keep the toe straighter.

In general, I’m more aware of the impact of physical activity and I think more about what I can and can’t do. This has been a major adjustment because I don’t really know how much I can do, I try to be reasonable, so I’ll walk to the library but get the bus back. Having said that I did overdo it on Saturday and have paid for it this week and had to start wearing the boot again over the last couple of days. I did ask Ma to come and help me take the tree down yesterday as I really didn’t think I would be up to the job of taking it down the stairs and then hoovering the pine needles by myself! I can’t say I wasn’t warned, but it’s been difficult to accept that I can’t do everything I used to do and that an operation on one foot would have such an impact.

Having said all of that, I’m still glad I had it done, it hurts less than it used to and this time next year when I’m back to my walking ways, I’m sure that it’ll have been worth it!